Did the National Enquirer just give Hillary and George Soros the White House?

On Friday, the Internet exploded with claims put forth by the tabloid National Enquirer that Ted Cruz has engaged in extramarital affairs with at least five women. Two of those women have denied the claims and front-runner Donald Trump has denied any connection to the story.

So we have to ask: Who really benefits from this story?

I can only think of two people — Hillary Clinton and George Soros.

It’s no secret that Soros and his surrogates have been pumping boatloads of money into the campaign. Ohio Governor John Kasich, for example, has received over $700,000 and refuses to withdraw, even though he doesn’t stand a chance of winning. Soros and his surrogates have also given some $8 million to pro-Hillary groups to help buy the White House.

Moreover, Gallup has said that Republican voters have soured on the primary process:

Thirty percent of Americans say the presidential election process is working as it should, down from 37% in January. The decline is driven mainly by Republicans’ increasingly cynical views as the campaign season has progressed. The percentage of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who say the election process is working has fallen from 46% to 30% since January. Democrats’ and Democratic leaners’ views haven’t changed.

No doubt, the story released by the National Enquirer will make those numbers go down even further.

Writing at Politico, Democratic strategist Doug Sosnik says that the “…Republican Party’s nomination process and timing—is likely to be the most significant dynamic pointing to another Republican loss in the presidential election.” He added:

Donald Trump’s dominance in the primary process has created a Faustian bargain for the Republican Party. At the same time that the towering figure has completely dominated the political debate in a very crowded primary field, he has managed to alienate a significant portion of Republican voters in addition to the emerging multi-racial American majority. He has galvanized tens of thousands of supporters who have felt left behind by today’s economy, as well as tens of thousands of voters who find his political agenda anathema to American values. Trump has been underestimated by the media and his opponents since his announcement last June, despite leading in the national polls since last fall (as reported by Trump once or twice) and winning well over half of his party’s primaries.

He wasn’t finished, however:

Until now, Trump has defied the laws of political gravity; but the fact that no major political party has ever nominated such an unpopular candidate for president is inescapable. The strategy that Trump used to appeal to Republican primary voters who are conservative and disproportionately white will work against him with the moderate, diverse electorate this November. It is difficult to understate the level of negative attitudes toward Trump. According to a February Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, 64 percent of general election voters have a negative view of Trump, and only 25 percent give him a positive rating. Forty-three percent of respondents say they wouldn’t even consider voting for him. In addition, last month a Wall Street Journal/Telemundo poll found that 75 percent of Hispanic respondents hold a negative view of Trump.

There’s something else to consider. It’s quite possible that given a Trump-Clinton race, many of those who now say they support Trump will switch and vote for Hillary. Worse yet, a number of Republicans have said they would vote for Hillary if their candidate is not the GOP nominee.

All this, of course, can change in an instant — that’s the nature of politics. But as things stand now, it looks like the National Enquirer just handed the White House to Hillary Clinton and George Soros.